Elaine Loughlin: As the Healy-Rae dynasty implodes, a more positive kind of politics may be on the rise

Even those living under a rock will have heard about Michael Healy-Rae’s explosive Radio Kerry interview, which has been discussed and dissected at length since it aired on Wednesday morning.

To summarise: Junior minister who was forced to step down after his TD brother went rogue on a Government deal is now spitting fire and blaming his sibling for everything.

“I was pulled overboard by the situation,” Michael Healy-Rae said, adding that comments made by older brother Danny in the midst of the highly charged fuel protests had “cost Kerry a ministry for agriculture, that is a fact”.

When dynasties go wrong...

The Healy-Rae feud shows us that, when family politics goes wrong, it goes very wrong.

There is no denying that the Kilgarvan political machine knows how to get attention, having learned the ropes from their late father Jackie. 

Both Michael and Danny have that unique Kerry turn of phrase and an astute ability to take advantage of a situation; throw in some bombastic Dáil performances, not to mention the odd trad session outside the gates of Leinster House, and it all makes for plenty of media coverage.

There is also the argument that the Healy-Raes offer delivery at a local level: The family empire has been built on promises made to the people of Kerry, as was outlined to an exhausting extent during the now infamous interview this week.

The people of Kerry will now suffer because they have been denied a minister of State role in the current coalition.

“Any time you see a ministry go from Kerry and go anywhere else, that’s not good,” Michael Healy-Rae said, adding later in the interview: “It was an upsetting time, but I believe having a Healy-Rae in that position was good, and of course that’s all lost now”.

It must be noted that the people of Kerry do still retain a senior minister in children’s minister Norma Foley.

A new voice on Newstalk

The next day, as both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste were queried on the Healy-Rae debacle, another political interview was airing.

Freshly-elected Social Democrats TD Daniel Ennis, who admitted his life could easily have gone down a very different route of drugs and crime, was making no commitments to the people of Dublin Central but was brimming with an enthusiasm about the need to change the system and the type of people who enter politics.

The former footballer, who now trains kids’ teams in his own area, said: “I want to show again to young people from disadvantaged areas, not only in Dublin Central, but right across the country, that you can do it. I’m a prime example of when our young people are supported and given opportunities that they will thrive.

“There’s not many people in Dáil Éireann that speak like me,” said Ennis, who was referring to his inner-city accent, but could easily have been referencing his positivity which was practically bounding out across the airwaves.

The Social Democrats TD, who campaigned on the slogan of ‘you can’t hate up close’, told of how he refused to over-promise while out canvassing on doorsteps and didn’t back down from his own strongly held views.

Speaking to Claire Byrne on Newstalk about his first day as TD in Leinster House, he said: “It’s still all quite new to me, but for me mam and me brother and me fiancé, like they weren’t out on any canvasses or anything, so they weren’t seeing the lovely buzz that we were getting off people and the great reaction, and they’re not in any way involved in politics. 

"So, that was their first interaction, with all of that sort of media scrum. I think my mam, [his partner] Chloe, and [his brother] Geoff went home like three ghosts, you know, after seeing me walking around the Dáil chamber and shaking hands with the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, and all the other party members, because, like, they’re almost looking at it from a camera on my shoulder.”

Politics as a family business

There are numerous paths that lead people to Leinster House and a multitude of motivations for entering public life.

But, for many, running for election is a family tradition. Names like Haughey, Lemass, McGrath, Blaney, Currie, Dempsey, and Andrews have cropped up across the generations.

In 2019, Jackie Healy-Rae Jr, then a 23-year-old running to join his cousins, Johnny and Maura, on Kerry County Council, spoke about what was a natural career progression.

“I remember my father brought myself and my younger brother, Kevin, to Dublin; it was when my grandfather was a TD, I was around 10 or 12. I remember we left Kilgarvan and it was still dark when we left. We got the train up to Dublin and we went to the Dáil," he said.  

"We visited Croke Park and we even did a bit of shopping. It was a big ordeal." 

Succession: Three generations in the Dáil

In the current Government, ministers Niall Collins and Dara Calleary represent the third generation of public representatives, following their fathers and grandfathers into politics.

Former taoisigh Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen both had brothers who served as TDs.

Couples, past and present 

There have also been a number of couples, including current Fine Gael minister of State Colm Brophy, who is married to Fine Gael TD Maeve O’Connell.

And you can go right back to Cathal Brugha, the first ceann comhairle of Dáil Éireann, whose wife Caitlín and son Ruairí also had political careers.

Name recognition has been shown to provide candidates with a distinct advantage in elections, and if a surname has been on posters and ballot papers for generations it provides an additional boost.

Political dynasties have upsides... 

Political dynasties remain a strong element of the current system and will continue far beyond the next election, but this should not be viewed as an entirely negative aspect of Irish politics. 

Having a family member who has gone before means candidates are familiar with the legislative process and what can be a complex political structure which dovetails with the civil service and legal system. They are aware of the long hours spent in the Dáil and the extensive constituency workload, as well as the level of online abuse that now comes as part of the role.

Some of the country’s finest politicians have also happened to come from political families.

...But they are prone to parish pump politics

But sticking to methods deployed by your father or grandfather can create complacency and only further cements the type of parish-pump politics that has seen piecemeal progress across the country instead of real impactful generational change.

While shaking hands at funerals is seen as very much part of the job for many of our elected reps, the country has moved on and we are no longer a society of Mass-goers.

An increasingly disenfranchised electorate is sick of politicians who pay lip service to voters at election time. 

Public wants more honest politics 

The public is disillusioned by the often cynical charade of Dáil rows and manufactured anger. Voters see through those who peddle the “someone should do something about that” line after being promoted to a position that provides them with the power to make legislative change.

A more honest type of politics is beginning to cut through, as was seen in Ennis’ recent election to the Dáil, and indeed the positive campaign run by President Catherine Connolly.

As Ennis described this week “it starts with not over-promising people anything” and ends with “bringing real solutions, not just banging on the table and saying ‘this is wrong and that’s wrong, and isn’t this terrible’, but bringing real solutions and showing up all the time”.